The theory of human nature is an important part of Xunzi's ideological system. In Xunzi's view, the presence of evil factors or tendencies towards evil in human nature must be guided and shaped through ritual and righteousness in order to lead it towards goodness. Xunzi emphasized the use of ritual and righteousness to "embellish human emotions", cultivate human nature, and achieve moral goodness. However, this kind of ritual and righteousness is not inherent in human nature, but originates from the system of sages and has an "external" characteristic. Therefore, the meaning of ritual and music in Xunzi's theory of human nature is also reflected in aspects such as practical orientation and application. Regulating emotions and cultivating character, regulating emotions and cultivating character, refers to the use of etiquette and righteousness to regulate human emotions, in order to achieve the goal of cultivating human emotions and character. This is the underlying logic of Xunzi's theory of human nature. Xunzi believed that human nature originates from innate nature, and the nature of nature is manifested in concrete manifestations such as good, evil, joy, anger, sorrow, and joy, which can also be called "emotions". Therefore, "sex" and "emotion" have an inherent connection of two sides. However, although temperament is innate and natural, acting in accordance with one's nature does not necessarily lead to moral goodness. Instead, it can create obstacles to some extent. For example, the pursuit of food, taste, vocal music, wealth, power, and other things, although natural and human nature, if not restrained, will lead to competition and disorder, causing social chaos. Therefore, Xunzi said, "If one follows one's nature and desires, it will inevitably lead to violence, which is in line with the principles of division and disorder. Therefore, Xunzi's answer is that "propriety and righteousness" should be used to regulate human emotions. In Xunzi's view, the sage had already noticed the many problems that arise from conforming to human emotions, and therefore "divided the rules of propriety and righteousness, so that there were levels of nobility and inferiority, differences in age, and distinctions in knowledge of ignorance and ability, all of which enabled people to carry out their tasks according to their own preferences. That is to say, using etiquette and righteousness to constrain people's emotions, guiding them towards goodness, and thus promoting the development of society towards orderliness and harmony. Of course, Xunzi also pointed out that the purpose of regulating emotions is not to eliminate them, but to satisfy human feelings and preserve human nature, which is known as "nurturing people's desires and giving them their needs". The emotional desires of humans in the objective world all stem from their own nature, and from a higher level, they are also bestowed by heaven, also known as "heavenly emotions". Based on this concept, satisfying human emotional desires can also be said to be in line with heaven and natural principles. However, objectively speaking, the external things that satisfy human desires are limited, so we cannot indulge in pursuing our own desires infinitely. We must control them based on certain principles and reasonably divide them according to "propriety and righteousness", so that people can "get what they want". Thus, Xunzi gained insight into the purpose of the sage's system of ritual and righteousness, and his discourse on human nature was elevated to the level of moral philosophy. He said that 'the reason why the culture of propriety, righteousness, and reason nurture emotions' is that the deep essence of nurturing emotions through propriety and righteousness lies in using it to influence people's daily material desires, gradually deepening them into the spiritual world, guiding human nature towards continuous goodness, and ultimately achieving a perfect moral personality. It can be seen that Xunzi's cultivation of emotions and character is not only to regulate one's own emotions and character, but also to prevent them from exceeding their limits; It is also necessary to appropriately satisfy human emotions to meet their natural needs; But more importantly, it is necessary to cultivate a sense of goodness and elevate one's personality, and the key to implementing all three lies in the system of "propriety and righteousness". Learning from the teachings of the sages and the principles of propriety and righteousness is an important way to achieve the goodness of human nature in Xunzi's theory of human nature. Compared to Mencius who believed that human nature is inherently good and that expanding its goodness can achieve morality, Xunzi said, "The human nature is evil, and its goodness is false. In his view, there is an element of "evil" in human nature, or rather the fundamental root of "evil", which needs to be corrected and transformed into goodness and beauty. Xunzi once gave an example, saying, "Therefore, Goumu will wait to be straightened and then straightened, and dull metal will wait to be sharpened and then sharpened. The evil nature of modern people will wait to be corrected by learning from the law, and then be treated by obtaining ritual and righteousness." It can be seen that he believed that just as Goumu and dull metal need to be processed to be straightened and then sharpened, human nature also needs to learn from the law, ritual and righteousness, in order to correct and treat later. In other words, the righteousness of teaching and the governance of propriety and righteousness have become important means of correcting the evil of human nature, and are the necessary path for people to become virtuous and holy. However, unlike Mencius who sought ritual and righteousness within himself, Xunzi believed that "the nature of modern people is inherently devoid of ritual and righteousness." He also believed that "those who aspire to be good are inherently evil... those who strive for nothing within must seek it outside. So this is inevitably an external process of seeking, that is, correcting one's inner nature through external rituals and righteousness. Xunzi believed that both saints and ordinary people have nature, but there is a difference between the two. The key lies in the fact that saints can "transform their nature into falsehood" and generate ritual and righteousness. Therefore, he called "all ritual and righteousness are born from the falsehood of saints, not from human nature". That is to say, the sage, considering the social nature of human beings living in groups, believed that if evil was not educated and led towards goodness, it would cause chaos and endanger social order. Therefore, through long-term self-education and social practice, he realized the importance of propriety and righteousness with his own heart, and then acted on the ordinary people to act in accordance with propriety and righteousness, thus achieving the goal of "governance", "harmony with the Tao", and "harmony with goodness". However, under this logical thinking, there is another problem. Since ordinary human nature is evil and lacks ritual and righteousness, why should we learn from the sages and accept ritual and righteousness education? This leads to the concept of 'heart knowledge'. In Xunzi's view, people have the qualities of being able to understand benevolence, righteousness, law, and righteousness, and can distinguish right from wrong and good from evil. Therefore, they can perceive the value of the sage's moral and ethical education for their own growth. The key to this cognitive process is that people have a desire to seek knowledge. Xunzi said, "The heart cannot ignore knowing", "If the heart knows, then it can attain the Dao; if it can attain the Dao, then it can guard the Dao to prohibit non Dao. The 'Dao' here refers to ritual and righteousness, while the heart is the heart of seeking knowledge, that is, the heart of wisdom. With this heart, ordinary people can understand the etiquette and righteousness of the sages, and accept their teachings and guidance, thus acting in accordance with the etiquette and righteousness. With this heart, ordinary people can transform evil into good, accumulate good into virtue, and then "the person who is Tu can be Yu", which is similar to the meaning of Mencius' proposition that "everyone can be Yao and Shun", but its focus is on the process of cognitive learning of etiquette and righteousness. Therefore, Xunzi proposed the concept of learning from external sources, emphasizing the significance of external learning. Through one's own efforts and long-term accumulation of practice, even ordinary people can achieve the sanctity of morality. The Way of Neutrality is the dynamic balance that Xunzi hoped to achieve through the synergistic effect of ritual and music between natural human nature and social norms. The Way of Neutrality is the ideal moral realm in Xunzi's theory of human nature. Xunzi believed that when people live in social groups, conflicts and contradictions will inevitably arise due to differences in their personalities. If not handled properly, the world will fall into a state of disorder. Therefore, he proposed using ritual and music to harmonize human nature, in order to achieve a harmonious coexistence among all social classes and reach the moral realm of "harmony". Firstly, the 'middle' of etiquette. Xunzi said, "The way of the former king, the prosperity of benevolence, is to walk in the middle. What is meant by 'middle'? He said, 'propriety and righteousness are also important.' One of the key elements of the way of the sage is the propriety and righteousness with the attribute of 'middle', which is fundamentally based on human emotions and can be used to moderate and regulate human temperament. That is to say, practicing etiquette and righteousness can bring about a harmonious state of opposing emotions based on natural nature, such as the relationship between literature and vulgarity, vocal music and crying, and tranquility and sorrow, thus achieving internal stability of temperament. And this stable temperament is conducive to the governance of the country. Xunzi pointed out that the governance of sages is closely related to human temperament. He said, "The ruler... is the good ruler who governs people." The most important point is based on the harmonious function of the "middle" of etiquette, which organizes the people according to their own temperament for reasonable management, ultimately achieving the "way of social unity". Secondly, the harmony of joy. Xunzi believed that if people rely solely on etiquette to regulate themselves, it is easy to cause inner suppression and alienation from the group, so the harmonizing function of "music" needs to be exerted. In his opinion, 'Those who enjoy themselves cannot help but feel the joy of human emotions.'. It can be seen that 'happiness' is a deep emotional harmony. Through the role of "music", especially the "Dao" contained in the sound of "Ya Song", to "move people's good hearts" and reconcile the internal tension caused by differences in ritual and law, people can find emotional comfort and resonance, thus achieving a state of "harmony" of "blood and qi peace" and "beauty and goodness in harmony". Not only that, Xunzi also pointed out that the value of "harmony" in music can also be reflected in national governance. He believed that the sage made music and used it to perform in the ancestral temple, which could make the ruler and his ministers respect each other; Walking in the boudoir can bring father and son brothers closer together; Traveling in the countryside can make the elders and elders of the tribe more harmonious. Therefore, 'He who enjoys himself is the great ruler of the world and the ruler of harmony.'. Of course, Xunzi believed that in order to achieve the ideal "way of harmony", the most important thing is to combine the above two to form a dialectical and unified educational system. In summary, only when the normativity of etiquette and the emotionality of music complement each other can comprehensive education be achieved from external behavior to internal psychology. In the end, this state of "neutrality" can be elevated to a moral realm of "beauty, goodness, and happiness". Thus, the ritual and music have successfully fulfilled their mission of transforming human nature through the transformation of nature. In summary, the core essence of Xunzi's theory of human nature lies in the inherent meaning of ritual and music. Xunzi hoped to demonstrate that human goodness is not innate, in order to highlight the guiding role of ritual and righteousness in education, and to introduce the significance of postnatal learning. People should have a correct understanding of the evil in human nature in order to study hard, demand strict standards of themselves, educate evil, trigger goodness, and achieve the sublimation of personality. In this way, even ordinary people can become virtuous and holy, the whole society can be more stable, and the country can be in an orderly state. This is also the practical significance of Xunzi's theory of human nature, which reminds us that the harmonious development of society cannot rely solely on the goodness of human nature. A sound legal system and social norms are also crucial. Author: Luo Chaohua (Associate Researcher at the School of Literature, Shandong University)